To reach the state semifinals in two sports is an incredible feat. But falling just short of a shot at a state championship twice in one year can hit a team hard.

At least, that was the feeling in the Rockford Lutheran lockerroom minutes after the Crusaders fell to Lincoln 45-42 in Friday’s Class 3A state semifinals.

“It’s hard,” said junior Nate Wieting, who played key roles for both the football and the basketball teams this year. “It’s hard to take when you get so close.”

The titles were within reach. The football team rattled off a school-record-setting 11 wins before Geneseo ousted the Crusaders in the semifinals.

Then, despite the fact that three of the key football players were starters on the basketball team, and all were banged up to start the season, they did it again on the hardwood. The basketball team tied the school record for victories (30) and broke the mark for 3-pointers made (299, and counting), leading the state in the latter. But Lincoln’s stingy 1-2-2 full-court-pressing defense did them in during Friday’s semifinal showdown.

So instead of celebrating back-to-back state titles, this talented group fell one game short of the biggest opportunity of them all — twice.

At times, this year’s Crusaders’ basketball team appeared to be put together like a super-hero club. It wasn’t much different during the football season, either.

The smooth, confident leader (Thomas Kopelman); the quarterback, on the field and the court (Kendall Lawson); the blue-collar protector in the paint (Wieting); the quiet assassin from the 3-point line (Joe Kellen); and the guy who could do it all, again on the field and on the court (James Robinson).

Throw in the 6-foot-8 gentle giant (Ryan Dolan) — whose comeback from two broken ankles, a cancer scare and a punctured lung, proved the toughest of them all — and the Crusaders were loaded.

If the cards were stacked differently, it’s a good bet Lutheran and Lincoln would have faced off in today’s title game instead of Friday’s semifinal.

“It was a game of runs, and unfortunately we just didn’t have the last run,” coach Tom Guse said. “But, come on, I’m proud of these guys. A lot of people didn’t give us a chance to even compete in this game.

“We sure did that.”

So Lutheran’s girls soccer team remains the school’s only team to claim a state crown, winning it all in 2007.

However, with only two starring seniors on this year’s basketball roster, there is plenty of returning talent. And that goes for the football team as well. The Crusaders have reason to be optimistic about future chances at a title.